


A Love of Mankind

by thelonebamf



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-25
Updated: 2009-12-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 23:24:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2525531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thelonebamf/pseuds/thelonebamf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fill for fireholly for the 2009 Secret Santa exchange on MGS-fanworks. The prompt was for a story that explored the awkward connection Snake and Mantis seemed to have.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Love of Mankind

Psycho Mantis was rarely surprised.

It came from being among the most powerful psychics the world had ever known; being able to foresee an enemy's attacks was all but a most basic skill.

He'd been surprised that day, though. The day he died.

The next time they met, he would be ready.

It was childishly simple to take control of another mind, even after his death. He should have anticipated that; mankind was really little more than a collection of upright cattle. The most challenging part was finding the right individual to direct. He needed to be careful in his choice, choosing someone who was a relative unknown, but feasibly useful for the tasks he would be expected to perform. Reading the memories of his host body would provide him with some of the information necessary for the infiltration he had in mind. In the end, he'd chosen a suitable candidate- a mid level employee of a corporation that seemed likely to take advantage of the newly leaked blueprints for Metal Gear. It didn't take long to concoct a story of surprise and remorse, and Mantis knew that in no time he would have access to that which he desired.

No, manipulating a mind, creating a false history, these were all menial tasks. More difficult was being noticed by his prey in such a way that made him seem valuable, but most of all, trustworthy. Still, his patience was rewarded, and soon he received contact. It was from the engineer, working under a false name, but that came as no surprise. Mantis imagined that the doctor did most of the information gathering. Snake was definitely better suited to the physical aspects of the mission. As he made his way through the outside world, it was a constant struggle to block out the noise of all the minds around him. A cacaphony of voices pounded within his borrowed brain, each thought as trivial and angering as the last. Few people really understood the complexity of psychic abilities. Some assumed that every thought was written across their mind, easy to skim and read. The truth was that thoughts seemed to surround the mind, more like a cloud, from which general truths could be perceived. It took great focus and concentration to be able to pluck a single memory or fact from such a mess, and in his borrowed body Mantis was having difficulty managing his abilities without his mask. The din abated somewhat as he made his way to the address he'd scrawled on a bit of paper. He rubbed the scrap between his fingers as though it was some sort of talisman, and pressed through the nearly empty alleyways before arriving at his destination.

It wasn't much to look at- and had he been less educated in the way these sorts of operations worked he might have thought he had the wrong address. However he knew that the organization was doing its best to operate under the radar, so the decrepit apartment building made sense. The reclusive, secret nature of the whole thing was all Snake, there was no doubt in Mantis' mind. He gave a mean sort of grin as he climbed the dingy stairs and rapped on the door, sending paint chips fluttering to the floor. 

He felt the haze of another consciousness approaching him, the cloud tinged with anxiety and anticipation. That would be the scientist. Although he'd encountered Dr. Emmerich only briefly at Shadow Moses, the psychic recognized him immediately, even before the door was opened. The face that greeted him was surprisingly open and was coupled with an air of excitement that would have been palpable even without the use of any extrasensory abilities. A string of coded greetings were exchanged, but Mantis could tell that the engineer treated such precautions almost as a formality, which seemed foolhardy at best. 

Soon they were seated at a table, Dr. Emmerich rambling on about their operative, plans for the future and any number of things that really didn't interest the psychic at all. What did interest him was the sharp, dark consciousness he sensed elsewhere in the shoddy apartment. His patience was wearing thin when the soldier finally made an appearance, eyes narrowed and calculating. Clearly Snake was not so trusting as his partner. Mantis would have been disappointed otherwise.

The psychic fought to keep from showing his approval and did his best to seem interested in whatever documents and blueprints were being displayed on the table. A quick sweep of the doctor's mind later on would provide him with whatever information he might need, but right now the temptation to press into Snake's mind was too great. Deftly he allowed himself to pass through.

Mantis prepared himself to be welcomed back into the waves of anger he'd felt in Snake's mind the first time they'd met. Of course, he knew that then the soldier was entirely focused on the mission at hand, but still the promise of returning to a mind he found to be so like his own was intoxicating. During their previous encounter Mantis had reveled in Snake's single mindedness, his directness, his solitude. At last, here was a mind unlike those of the human cattle Mantis found himself surrounded by. The mask that many assumed was merely an eccentric means of intimidation was in reality a filter, keeping the stench of minds that reeked of the mundane at bay. Yet at that moment, for perhaps the first time ever, he relished the idea of being so close to another. The fact Mantis perceived Snake to be an individual so like himself made the idea of melding together even more tantalizing.

Death had not changed Mantis' loathing of mankind's single-minded desire to pass on its seed. Indeed, even while slipping into his borrowed body, he experienced a deep disgust at the animal desires he'd found clinging to the walls of his host's mind. This was why he'd so relished his first meeting with Snake. The other man had been lauded as the perfect soldier, and indeed he'd risen to the task, but that wasn't all the psychic had seen there. During their first encounter it was obvious that Mantis knew much more about his opponent's past than Snake did, especially where his "family" was concerned. Patricide seemed negligible compared to the convoluted family history of Big Boss and his "sons". 

He'd been pleased to find Solid's thoughts to be so far from those of every other human he'd met. The theatrics of Meryl's manipulated advances had done little to stir the soldier's blood; even the revelation of the young woman's feelings hadn't captured his attention. While she had retreated in embarrassment, not a whiff of emotion came from Snake, his thoughts keened on the dying man before him.

How exhilarating.

So once more, Mantis ventured into the mind of the soldier. Once more he allowed himself to reach and take from the only individual he'd ever encountered that wasn't preoccupied with the passing on of genes. Once more he grasped at a soul that had once made him feel as though he himself was a saint.

"I'm not sure about this guy," came the first wave, loud and clear above the mottled haze of Snake's consciousness. "Don't trust him." No surprises there, caution was paramount in times of war, and to a soldier like this, the entire world must be a battlefield.

"Not sure."  
"Coffee. Hal leave any?"  
"Wonder what he's brought us."  
"Kinda...weird. Something off."  
"...still...maybe..."  
"This has to work."

Mantis withdrew rapidly from Snake's thoughts and he returned his attentions to whatever was being discussed out loud over the table. He nodded once or twice, reached out to take the documents being handed to him, and scanned Emmerich's brain to decipher what an appropriate response would be at this time.

Had to work? Why?

It was so easy to imagine Snake slipping through the corridors of one weapons plant or another. In Mantis' mind's eye the soldier took precise shots and snuffed out lives with a cold efficiency not even the most famous Hollywood spy could imagine. Of course this man would crave the action, the danger, the thrill of the next mission. But why would he need this organization to succeed?

It didn't take a psychic's abilities to see what had happened. The answer was there in the group's name. Philanthropy.

A love of mankind.

A desire to show that burning love, to sear it into the skin of as many people as possible. Not to destroy, as Mantis craved, but to touch.

To imprint.

Mantis knew the truth about Snake's past. He knew about the cloning project that had made him and his "brothers" possible. He knew about the skills they were granted, and the limitations.

No genes. No memes. Nothing to pass on.

Had Snake figured this out as well? Was that why he'd agreed to this insane venture? Another dive into his mind would tell the psychic what he wanted to know, but the notion made him so violently ill he couldn't bear to return to the soldier's thoughts. He must have been wrong the first time. Without the ability to pass on genetic data, the soldier had opted for another path, one that allowed him to leave a part of himself in every living being on the planet, and all those that would come after.

Mantis had never found anything quite so revolting.

He stood from the table, shoved the papers back towards the engineer and mumbled something, some explanation about not being able to commit at the time. He made assurances of secrecy, pledges of assistance in the future- not that he thought there would ever be the need. Soon, but perhaps not soon enough, he was on the other side of the door one again.

Of course the legendary soldier would be the first to surprise Mantis for the second time.

The next time they met, he would be ready.


End file.
